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User blog:Deadcoder/Deadcoder's Reviews: Ghost Channel
I have decided to start a review series where I review the episodes of Code Lyoko, rate them, and comment on them. In my system, scores will range from 0 to 10 with 10 being amazing, and 0 being Melanie Tran's acting. The average rating will be 5. All scores are based on the English dub whenever it's available. With that explanation out of the way, here's my review of Ghost Channel: =The Review= Ghost Channel starts out with stock footage of scenery transitions of the Ice Sector. From there, we join your previously scheduled battle already in progress. This scene was kind of poorly made. When I first saw this episode, I thought it was going to be like Routine: more emotionally based. I would like to point out that in that scene, at least in the English dub, the script was stupid. Ulrich yells out, "Odd, take Aelita to the Tower! Yumi's in trouble!" followed by "Hang on, Yumi, you can do it" When she was right next to him, and she's clearly okay. That was kind of stupid, so minus one point. Aelita actually thinks to hide from the monsters though, but it seems that all her idiocy was just transferred to Odd in this scene, since he's more obnoxious than usual in that part of the episode. Oh, and why does everyone run to Odd to congratulate him on destroying a block, which is something that these people do on a semi-weekly basis, and even Yumi can do without getting devirtualized? Especially Aelita, who needs to deactivate the tower, because Yumi is allegedly in trouble, despite being right there? By the way, Yumi was the victim of the week for like a third of season 1, but I still expect the writers to know when she is supposed to be the victim. Long story short, Odd is obnoxious to Jeremie in this scene, which is really stupid because Jeremie could probably kill him with a few keystrokes. I will give the episode a point, because when they use the Return To The Past, they don't show an absurd just-in-time shot, like a laser beam halting in mid-air. The next scene is interesting from a long term perspective, where we find out that Odd and Ulrich are missing. This scene showed Jeremie being level-headed. In season 1, he was the smart one and the sane one. In later seasons, he was still the smart one, but Yumi became the level-headed one, whenever anyone was. I like that Sissi was reading a trashy romance novel in class. I think this suited her. The alternate version of the scene was equally good. For starters, the acting was more muted for Mrs. Hertz and Jeremie, which helps set the mood, and the board doesn't say Y=MX+B, which is a deviation from the rest of the show. The scene where Jeremie looks for Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich was decent, and not really noteworthy. Most of the footage with Jim was recycled in this part. The scene where Yumi tells Ulrich about the English class incident is interesting from an artistic point of view. I think that's the first time that effect was used in the series. It would later become a staple of season 2. I thought the scene with Jeremie and Principal Delmas was kind of poorly thought out. "I'll think about it, but I need to be alone." What the hell, Jeremie? This wouldn't work in real life! A better line would have been, "I don't know where they are, but I'll try to find out. Could you please give me some time?" It's less obvious. Principal Delmas even lampshades it! Many people complain that Aelita blowing up the steam pipe was new powers as the plot demands. While I agree with this, I think it can be made to make sense in-universe. First, it was routinely shown in X.A.N.A. 2.0 that if you have the sufficient machines, you can do a basic attack on Kadic without an active tower on Lyoko. A tower is really only needed for when you need to sustain an attack, or are doing one at a distance. I like that the cafeteria scene varied Sissi's outfit. Why did that gas not severely burn or poison Jeremie, Jim, or Mr. Delmas? I thought Sharron Mann's acting in the scene where Jeremie checks the scanners and talks to Aelita was very good. A lot of the music that they used in this scene wasn't used anywhere else in the series, which made it more attention grabbing. That being said, the writing was bad in this scene. When you're dealing with a quantum supercomputer that routinely turns back time and can simulate an entire world using nothing but parts available to consumers, a parallel world is actually a good possibility. Some people complain about Aelita saying that there's not an intermediate space between Earth and Lyoko. This can be rectified by assuming that the Virtual Limbo is a temp directory, which they more or less stated in-universe. The scene where Jeremie first arrives in the Simulation Bubble had a lot of recycled footage. Why did the moon flicker? Even Minecraft can maintain a consistent moon X.A.N.A.! In the factory, why did they not notice either A, X.A.N.A.-Jeremie coming into the room, or B him materializing out of thin air? I love how Yumi is the suspicious one in the scene, and when the real Jeremie enters the room, he immediately says "Yumi, you're right. It's a Trap!" All of the characters are aware that Yumi is the only one out of her, Ulrich, and Odd with any sense. This actually explains why X.A.N.A. targets her so frequently. I like that the main reason that they know who the real Jeremie is because he said that he took the scanners, which they knew he would do. It's actual continuity in season 1! Some of the lines in this scene sound like the result of translation, but the acting compensates for it. I think that the most disturbing scene in all of season 1 was this scene. First, X.A.N.A. modeled himself into a lovecraftian horror. Second, they actually used the word "die", which sets the episode apart from the rest of the season. Additionally, when you watch the introduction for season 2 episodes, this is the only season 1 scene with a shot in that sequence. Finally, it was the first time X.A.N.A. did a disturbing tentacle thing in the series. Several minutes prior to that point, we saw Aelita arrive at the simulation bubble. Many viewers were wondering, "What is taking her so long? SHE'S RIGHT THERE!" We know there were several minutes between that point and when she destroys the simulation bubble. I think that in that time, she was trying to figure out what to do. Remember, like the viewer, she has never seen this thing before in her life. So she has no clue what to do. Trying to develop a plan is actually rational. Given that this is Aelita interacting with anything, she has 4 options: 0. Act suicidal and/or crazy. 1. Attack it with a long single note of angry music. 2. Have an argument with it. 3. Use Energy Fields. She already is going to use 0 later in the episode, so that's out. It's not sentient, so 2 is out, and she doesn't unlock energy fields until season 3. So she chose option 1. I don't know why Jeremie devirtualized at that point and the others didn't, but I'll chalk it up to low life points from the wire attack. I think that the resulting effects are why Moonscoop chose to upgrade the lighting engine in season 2. The episode ends with Aelita running to what is at least 30 blocks all shooting at them, which uses 0 on the list. Review Summary Overall, I think this was the best episode of season 1. Some of the writing was a little questionable and the first two minutes had the characters being idiots. After that though, the episode was flat out disturbing. I think this episode was when the show really started to shine. It had some continuity. The attack was the most innovative of the season. Custom music was used. The plot was disturbing. Seeing as the next episodes were False Start and Code Earth, I think this episode was when the writers realized "Screw it! We can have a storyline and make this amazing!" Looking back on it, this episode had flaws, but a normal amount for a single episode. I give it an overall rating of 10/10, for being one of the few season 1 episodes to break the attack of the week mold, and for crumbling the mold enough that Code Earth could be made, allowing for greater story arcs in the other seasons. This episode was the butterfly wing that started the storm of seasons 2-4. It had a normal amount of recycled footage. We got a Jeremie-focused episode with Ghost Channel, which is relatively rare in the early seasons, and Aelita exercised good judgement. Category:Blog posts Category:Ghost Channel